Walking toy



Dec. 13, 1938. J. E. wlLsoN 2,140,275

WALKING TOY Filed Oct. 15, 1936 IUI gw/Z 3mm u JENz'so-n Patented Dec.13, 1938 UNrr-so sT-A'rss 'PATENT' ol-Flcls WALKING 'roY John E. Wilson,Watsontown, Pai, assigner of one-half to Ned F. Wagner, Watsontown, Pa.

Application october 15, 193s, serial No. 105,768

1 claim. (ci. 46-149) This-invention relates to toys and particularly towalking toys, that is, toys having legs, the toy being so constructedthat when impelled in one direction, the legs will alternately swingforward s causing the toy to wa1k.

The general object of this invention is to provide a toy of thischaracter so constructed that when placed upon a surface having a veryslight or gentlev inclination, the legs of the toy .will

body of the toy will slightly swing from side to side, thus giving tothe toy a very comical waddling motion.

Another object is to provide a toy of this charl act-er which isextremely simple and which is made of very few parts.

Other objects will appear in the coulis@ of the .foiiowing description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein Figure 1is a side elevation of a toy constructed in accordance with myinvention,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the toy from front ltorear. Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken laterally through thetoy.

Referring to these figures, I 0 designates the body of the toy which, inthe particular embodiment illustrated, is cylindrical or tubular.

Disposed upon the body is a head I I which is globular and which at itslower end is provided with a reduced portion I2 of such diameter that itmay be forced into the upper end of the body I0 and glued therein orotherwise attached. The

head II is shown as being formed with a beak I3 formed of a peg-likepiece of wood or'other material forced into the head II.

Disposed within the body Ill are two legs I4, these legs being alike,vand these legs at their upper ends are somewhat rounded on all sides andthe legs are pivoted to the body Ill by means of a transverse pivot pinI5 which is driven through the body and which passes loosely through thelegs, so that the legs can swing freely upon this pivot pin.

The lower ends of the legs are formed with feet I6. As illustrated, thefeet are of a separate piece from the legs and the lower extremity ofthe legs are forced into the openings made in the feet and the feetglued onto the legs or otherwise rigidly attached thereto. illustrated,are longer forward than they are rearward.

Ihe underfaces of both feet, as shown most clearly in Figure 3 aretransversely curved acautomatically alternately swing forward and theThe feet, as

curately on a circle C, whose center is an imaginary point Il in thecenter of the head. The feet also have a curvature from frontrto rearwhich is accurately the curvature of a 'circle C', whose center is theimaginary point I'I. In other 5 words, the two feet have the exactcurvature of a sphere, whose exact centeris the imaginary point I1, asclearly illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The pivot point I5 of the legsI4 is disposed at the exact center of a circle D of considerably 10shorter radius than the circle C'. Thus the pivot point I5 is located adistance below the imaginary point I'I upon which the underfaces of thefeet are struck.

I have illustrated my toy as having the form Il of a penguin, this formbeing particularly chosen because of the very comical, awkward, waddinggait of the penguin which my tow very closely simulates and hence I haveprovided the body I0 at its lower end with a tail I8, which is made 20of thin metal, cardboard or any other suitable material inserted in akerf I9 formed in the body, this kerf extending upward and openingthrough the body. Wings I9 are also provided, these'- wings being formedof cardboard, metal or other W25 suitable material and vbeing attachedto the body by glue or otherwise. Y

lWith the construction as described, it is merely-'necessary to set thetoy upon a slightly inclined surface,A preferably a surface inclined' ats()v an angle not greater than 1- and give a slight sidewise impulse tothe body, whereupon the body will waddle down the incline, the legsbeing alternately swung forward and the toy having ail the action of apenguin in walking.

Stress is laid upon the fact that the underfaces of the feet are formed,as the exact surface of a sphere, the center of which is rthe imaginarycenter I1. This is absolutely essential to the proper operation. of thetoy. This permits the toy to, 40 as it were, Aroll forward upon the feetand roll laterally upon the feet. 'Ihe feet are spaced from each other adistance of approximately 54, at the nearest point and this spacing ofthe feet is also a very important factor in the operation 45 of the toy.

In the operation of the toy, when the toy is placed. upon a slightlyinclined surface, the body rocks forward slightly and this carries theupper portion of the body, which in the case illus- 50 trated is thehead II, forward so that the point I 'l moves forward of the pivot I5.If now the upper portion of the body be given a slight touch laterallyorbe even blown upon, one foot will be lifted from the surface and becausecf the ra- 55 i.. dis of4` legs being shortervthan the radius of ward,and thus the legs and feet will alternately t swing'forward, giving alwaddling and walking motion to the body.- If the surface is inclined butslightly uneven, thel toy will follow the various inclinations ofthe-surface so that it meanders in a very life-like manner, and so longas the I surface is not too greatly inclined, the toy will ately given alateral impulse.

maintain its equilibrium. f

The space between the feet is of importance as, if there were no spacebetween the feet, the toy would be only balanced as a ball is balancedand would be liable to tip over laterally. By reason of the spacingbetween the feet, however, the legs Il which extend downward and outwardand the feet I6 which are spaced from each other, act as two lateralbraces bearing at their inner -edges against the surface Supon which thetoy is supported and thereby preventing any lateral tipping movement ofthe toy until it is deliberswings from side to side so as toalternatelyJift the feet, the .distancek between the underface of thelifted foot is very slight, only just suflicient to permit the forwardswing of the foot.

It is to be noted that the center I1 upon which the curvature of thefeet is struck is not only located above the pivotal axis of the legsbut in a median plane of the body. It is also pointed out that the tailextending downward and rearward at the rear of the body tends .tobalance the bill il and keep the center of gravity within the body.

It will be seen that in my toy no weights are necessary to throw thelegs forward but the legs swing forward due to the fact that the centerof motion of the legs is below the center upon which the under or atreadfaces oi' the feet are described. The lateral curvature given to thefeet causes a smooth and easy lateral rocking motion of the body andYonly a very slight lateral impulse need be given to-Athe body in orderto start the ilgure walking.

It is an important point to be constantly borne infmind that the medialaxesV of the legsy and feet are upwardly convergent and that these axes.extending from the bottom of the feet, if extended upward will intersector meet ata point on the imaginary sphere C, which point is coaxial withthe vertical a'xisof the body. With this construe--l When the toy tion.the body. after an initial impulse, will tilt laterally until the'legwhich is in contact with the supporting-surface becomes vertical, thenthe body will swing laterally in the opposite direction untily the otherleg is vertical, and so on. l;`

The'body thus has a swing in opposite directions of approximately 1 andwill not become overbalanced if left alone and ii' it is travelling upona surface inclined at.1.

Attention isv also called to the fact that the head does not projectbeyond the surfaces of the body but is entirely'within the lines of thebody so that there is no over-balancing action on the part of the head.It is-also to be understood that the same principlevmay be applied totoys having different dimensions from those shown. In actual practice. Ihave made toys of this character which vare considerably taller than thetoy shown land which act precisely in the same many ner. Because thelegs extend upward into the body and are pivoted to the upper endthereof and the body extends downward around the legs a relativelyconsiderable distance. the center of gravity is relatively low and hencethe toy will not be top heavy. While I have illustrated this toy as inthe form of a penguin and believe this to be a particularly novel andattractive form of toy, I do not l.wish tobe limited to artoy havingthese distinctive characteristics as obviously the principle of30- thistoy might be appliedin many cliierent forms.

It is sufficient if the toy has apbody, legs and feet.

the feet having their' undersuriaces formed as portions of a truesphere, thev center of whichis disposed above the pivotal point ofthelegs and 35 if the toyotherwlse embodies the principles stated above. Iy

What isv claimed isz- A walking toy, including a hollow body. a pair 'oflegs extending up into the body and pivoted 40 within the body for freeforward and rear swingL ing movement, the pivot being adjacent the upperl end of the body and feet on the legs, the-tread surface of each footbeing convex andfcurving in all directionsrthe curvature being that ofthe 45 lsurface of an imaginarysphere whose center is located within theupper end portion of the body and in the central vertical axis of thebody, the legs being upwardly convergent at auchan an'gle that thelongitudinal axes of the legs if extended d0 will intersect eachotherand the surface of said imaginary sphere at the intersection 'of saidvertical central Vaxis of the body. i 'l .101m` a. wnsoN. u

